


what if... we broke into an abandoned house... and we were all girls... ahah just kidding... unless..?

by Echoe



Series: fictober & silenthilltober & whumptober 2020 [6]
Category: Sweet Elite (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/F, Fictober 2020, Whumptober 2020, anyway i miss my girls, if im being honest it's mostly about karolina tbh, im not sure what to tag this., so youre on ur own sorry., the others are there too but like it's not important.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:47:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27841744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Echoe/pseuds/Echoe
Summary: You want to break into an abandoned house because Ellie told you about it and you think abandoned places are cool.Karolina doesn't want to come.Neha doesn't want to come, either.And yet here they are with all your other friends.
Relationships: Karolina Nováková/Neha Rao/Scholar
Series: fictober & silenthilltober & whumptober 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1997335
Kudos: 6





	what if... we broke into an abandoned house... and we were all girls... ahah just kidding... unless..?

**Author's Note:**

> day 8 - fictober themes : "i'm not doing that again" ; whumptober themes : abandoned
> 
> i still have stuff that i _actually_ wrote in october that i need to edit but when i was looking at the prompts for the days i had missed i was like HEY i have an idea for this. so i started writing  
> then i completely dropped it for like two weeks to play dbd and only picked it back up today and i didnt really remember where i was going with this  
> so sorry if its kinda weird.
> 
> (can you tell i didnt know what to title this???????)

Karolina doesn't know why she ever agreed to this.  
She could be in her bed with a book and maybe a cup of hot chocolate, spending a relaxing day inside.  
Or she could be out shopping.  
She could be doing a hundred things that aren't _this_.  
That aren't _exploring a goddamn abandoned house outside the city_. (Although it's more like a mansion really. But, not the point there.)  
And yet here she is.  
Staring at Raquel trying to get the front door open.  
(Feeling like she should be worried by the fact that Tegan is helping her out.  
When the hell did he learn anything about picking door locks?  
And _why?_  
"... It's always useful to know," he said. Useful for _what?_ Breaking into abandoned houses? Is it an habit of his?  
God, it's giving her a headache.)

Her only consolation is that Neha's there too, so she doesn't feel too ridiculous for coming.  
(Ignoring the fact that Neha came because she was worried for Karol, while Karol came because Ellie said she was just scared.  
Well, no, not quite. It did kind of annoy her, but she wasn't stupid enough to fall for that.  
But then Ellie pointed out that it was your idea to do this and you were really excited about it and you'd love having your friends come with you and was Karol really not going to come? Didn't she care about you?  
She still can't believe she fell for it.  
She only realized her mistake after letting out a frustrated "Fine, I'll come!" and immediately hearing Ellie snicker.  
It's the second time she's gotten tricked like this now.  
She sighs at the thought.)  
Claire being there should also serve as some kind of comfort, because this girl wouldn't condone any dangerous activity, but let's be honest.  
She's probably there _because_ it's not all that safe and she doesn't want to leave her friends alone. (I mean come on she has a goddamn first aid kit in her bag.  
You can't say she isn't expecting something bad to happen.  
It's not comforting at all.)  
And Tadashi?  
He got tricked into it, just like Karolina.  
It's ridiculous.  
(Except _he's_ actually scared even though they're not inside yet while she's really just bored out of her mind.)  
And the others either instigated the whole thing or tagged along because their friends were going.

Speaking of instigators-  
What the hell are you doing?  
She knows you went to check around the house with Ellie for any broken or open window to climb through, but that was a while ago, and the house isn't _that_ big.  
She frowns.  
You better not have gotten into any trouble already.

"Wait- I got it! I freaking got it!"

And with that triumphant shout, Raquel finally gets the door open, which prompts everyone minus Ellie and you to regroup.  
(Claire opens her mouth like she's about to congratulate Raquel but then a conflicted look crosses her face, probably because she doesn't really know how to feel about breaking into an abandoned house, so she doesn't say anything in the end.  
It's kind of funny.)  
And now they're all standing there awkwardly, waiting for something.  
It's Alistair who eventually breaks the silence.

"So... What do we do now?"

"I mean, go in? I didn't get this door open just for fun."

"I'll go get Anna and Ellie then."

And with that, off Axel goes.  
(Meanwhile, Karolina is peeking inside the house and realizing that it's a lot darker in there than she expected.  
She doesn't really like it.)  
A few minutes later, Axel comes back all alone. Neha tilts her head.

"You didn't find them?"

"Nope. I guess they found another way in and didn't tell us?"

Karolina clicks her tongue at that.  
You could have texted them at least.  
Seriously.

"Ooh, I hope they found something scary in there," and Karol just stares at Tyler, unimpressed, because really the scariest thing in there's probably going to be a dead animal or some other gross thing.  
Sadly, he got Tadashi with that.

"What's there even to find in an old decrepit house? Trash?" he asks, trying to sound unaffected but the slight shake of his voice doesn't fool anyone.  
And of course Tyler smirks at that.  
Of course he does.

"What, you don't know why they abandoned this place, Tadashi?"

"Huh?"

Tyler doesn't elaborate and just goes in while snickering.

"Wait, Tyler, what does that mean?"

"Dude, you're in for a ride."

Axel doesn't elaborate either and follows Tyler in, and Tadashi's left to scramble after them, desperate for answers because these two are seriously freaking him out.  
(Karolina thinks that they shouldn't be messing with him like this.  
But she can't deny that it's also a little bit funny, though you won't see her laugh.)  
Neha walks up to her.

"For someone so smart, Tadashi really gets tricked too easily."

Karolina hums in agreement, because honestly, does he _not_ remember last Halloween?  
(To be fair, a lot's happened in a really short time, so she can't really blame him if he did forget.)  
With that, Karol and Neha go in, too, and now everyone's inside.  
(Tyler closes the door behind them. Something about getting the mood right.)

Soon enough, they've split up into three groups.  
Axel is, surprisingly, sticking with Tadashi (and Raquel), but Karolina quickly realizes there's nothing odd about it because it's to fuck with him some more.  
(Claire is hovering around them, like she's watching over them more than being part of the group.  
She's being a worrywart.)  
Meanwhile, Tegan and Tyler are heading downstairs, toward the basement.  
(Tyler reckons that if there's anything scary, it _has_ to be in the basement.)

That leaves Karolina and Neha on their own, which isn't exactly the best because neither of them really want to be there to begin with.  
(Also, Karolina is getting increasingly annoyed with the fact that you still haven't come back.  
Like, she comes for you and you don't even spend time with her?  
Okay, sure, it's not like she ever told you that she's doing it for you because no way in hell is she telling you, but still.  
You have some nerve.)  
Nevertheless, the two of them start exploring the ground floor, because they're here now, so they might as well, you know?  
But there really isn't anything interesting for them here.  
A few pieces of furniture here and there, covered in dust.  
Spider webs. A lot of them.  
(Neha notices one too late and walks right into it and although she tries her best, she can't completely get it out of her hair even with Karolina's help and she looks like she wants nothing more than to get the hell out of there to take a shower.  
Karolina doesn't blame her.)  
Holes, too. Also a lot of them.  
(Karolina doesn't keep her eyes glued to the ground so she ends up getting her heel stuck in a hole in the parquet and she curses and regrets more than ever thinking wearing heels was a good idea.)  
...  
If we're honest there, walking around the house just convinces them more and more that they have _nothing_ to do here.  
But it's not like they can just leave now.

"I mean, really, what's stopping us?"

Okay, Neha isn't wrong, they could just leave, but Karolina doesn't want to tell her that it'd be like admitting defeat, to just leave early.  
(Also what if you got sad because she left.  
But also you're still missing so maybe you don't even care.  
God, Karolina doesn't know anymore.)  
She just tells Neha some bullshit about not wanting to leave her brother alone with these people in this kind of place.  
(Which isn't totally false, but Neha looks unconvinced.  
Because it's not like she just let him explore some gross basement with just Tyler or anything, you know.  
Way to show that she's worried.)

When they get to some really tight (and really dark, so they get out their phone) hallway, they hear footsteps over their head.  
There's nothing particularly odd about that, Axel's group probably just decided to go upstairs.  
But they didn't, because the girls find them in what's probably a bedroom a bit later. (There's no bed but there's a wardrobe and what's _probably_ a bedside table so, good enough guess.)  
Well, maybe Tegan and Tyler are done with the basement and are now looking for the attic or something. It'd make sense. Attics are good spooky spots too.  
But no, because when they go back to the entrance, they get back just in time to catch Tyler and Tegan leaving the basement.  
Huh.  
Well, maybe the house's just creaking or something. Or it's an animal. Or-

"Did you guys hear that?" Claire whispers (and Karolina has to pause to wonder why the hell she's whispering, there's no need for that, is there?), and Tegan opens his mouth to answer, but-  
There's that sound again.  
It definitely sounds like someone's walking up there.  
...  
It's fine.  
It's not weird at all.  
(Karolina moves closer to Neha for no reason in particular.)  
Tegan finally gets to talk.

"... It sounds like there's someone upstairs."

"Or _something_ ," Tyler adds while waggling his eyebrows. Karolina scoffs.

"Let's be honest, it's probably just a squatter," and, yeah, now that she's saying it, it does make sense, doesn't it?  
Tadashi looks _extremely_ relieved upon hearing that.

"Come on then, we should go before we get in trouble."

"But what about Ellie and Anna?"

Tadashi frowns.

"Right. Have they answered any of your texts?"

Raquel and Claire shake their head, and several 'no' are heard.  
He sighs.

"And none of you saw them since we got in, right?"

Same result.

"Then there's a good chance that they're upstairs..."

Bloody hell.  
So they're going to look for you now, aren't they?  
I mean, of course they can't just leave without you, but still.  
Why are you being so difficult and not answering any of the goddamn texts?  
(Nothing's happened to you guys, right?  
...  
God, why did she think about that, now Karolina's actually _worried_.  
She hates it.)

"Well, I guess we're going up then."

Tadashi takes a deep breath after saying that, clearly steeling himself to do this.  
But then there's a big thud as they go up the stairs and he can't help the terrified yelp he lets out.  
(It's good because it distracts everyone and no one notices Karol grabbing onto Neha, and Neha doesn't even say anything about it because really she was about to do the same.  
Karolina lets go a second later and pretends it never happened.  
And if they end up hanging back a little just in case they get scared and end up doing something embarrassing again, that's no one's business but theirs.)

Karolina immediately dislikes the first floor, because it's full of corridors leading to various rooms and all their doors are closed so there's barely any light at all.  
(And while they have nine phones' lights at hand, which lights up their surroundings pretty efficiently, she doesn't like not being able to see what's up ahead.)  
They spend a few minutes exploring a few rooms, most of them ending up being half-empty bedrooms.  
They don't find any sign of their friends being there.  
Or any sign of a squatter living there, for that matter.  
(Karolina hears Tyler mutter that it's kind of weird, and at first she thinks it's to scare Tadashi, but he isn't even looking at him.  
She doesn't like it at all.)  
Nothing.  
It's all just eerily quiet.

That's until they hear a door slam shut, and while it's startling, had she been given enough time, Karolina probably would have rationalized that there's nothing so weird about it because it's an old house with broken windows and drafts everywhere.  
But it's immediately followed by the sound of someone running so her brain kind of short-circuits for a bit.  
(Then there's a hand on her arm and she turns to look at Neha and it calms her down a little.  
Just enough to hiss out a few words.)

"What the _hell_ was that?"

Axel lets out a "uh" and that's about all the answer Karol gets.  
They all look at each other for a few seconds and while some definitely look like they just want to get the hell out of there (Karolina is _not_ one of them because she'll be dead before they can see that she's scared), in the end they nod and walk in the direction of all that noise. (Which sounded kind of far away, like, on the other side of the floor.)  
When they get there, there's a...  
A table.  
Like, a dining table?  
Right in the middle of the hallway.  
And next to it is one of those ladders that unfold from the ceiling to lead into the attic. (Of course, it's unfolded.)  
...  
So, like, they're totally going to have to go up there, right.  
Karolina watches Tadashi move in front of the ladder and she frowns and decides that she is _not_ following the group this time.  
It's probably gross as hell up there.  
So she stands back with Neha (because if Karolina isn't going there is _no_ reason for her to force herself to go, they can all go get murdered for all she cares), watching their friends go up one by one.

"Karol? Neha? Are you coming?"

Neha shakes her head ; Karolina crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow at Tegan.

"No. Have fun up there."

He stays silent for a few seconds, glancing at Tyler, then nods.

"Be careful then, sis."

"Sure-"

Wait, what.  
What.  
What the hell does _that_ mean?  
But Tegan completely ignores Karol's confused face and climbs the ladder, too.

"Just scream if something happens, you two, we're not going very far," Tyler says before following Tegan up. (He sounded way too serious saying this.)

Okay, now they're just being ridiculous.  
Right?  
...  
(Now that she thinks about it, is it really such a good idea to separate from the rest of the group like that?  
But it's not like they're in danger.  
If there's anything, it should be in the attic, right?)

"... Maybe we should go up too? We could always just stay near the ladder or something. I'd rather not get more webs in my hair anyway..."

It looks like they got to Neha, too.  
But Karolina doesn't want to agree too quickly, because when she thinks about it they've already explored most of the house without seeing anything suspicious so there's no way staying down there's dangerous-  
But then the wooden floor creaks somewhere and she jumps and then stills for a few seconds before turning to Neha.

"... Okay."

And so, up they go.  
(Tegan raises an eyebrow when he sees them but doesn't comment.  
Tyler looks like he wants to say something but Karolina glares at him and he keeps his mouth shut.)  
True to her word, though, Neha refuses to move further in, especially since she's already spotted a huge spider web hanging from a beam.  
Thus, they leave her alone to venture deeper into the attic.  
Which is a goddamn mess, by the way- it's kind of weird to see so many boxes lying around when the rest of the house is so bare.  
It makes it very hard to navigate the place.  
But it makes it _very_ easy to trip.  
So Karolina isn't all that surprised when she hears a curse followed by a loud thud and the sounds of trinkets hitting the floor.  
But then she shines her light around to see who fell and realizes that no one's on the ground.  
Even though the sound was so close.  
Mh.  
(While everyone's slowly understanding what happened, she very discreetly walks over to where Tegan is.  
Not close enough for him to take notice, she hopes, but close enough that it brings her some comfort.)

After a minute of steeling himself and seeing no one else is going to do it (they're all either too scared or they just want him to do it because it seems fun), Tadashi starts walking in the direction of the sounds.  
(It's right behind a bunch of boxes so even as he gets closer he can't see a thing until he walks around them.)  
Karolina watches him from a safe distance, kind of moving sideways rather than forward so that she can get at an angle where she can see behind the boxes without actually having to get too close.  
(She won't be able to see anything until there's light there though.  
So when there's a distinct _crack_ followed by a whisper, she has no idea what's going on and she hates it as much as Tadashi does, if the way he jumped at the noise is any indication.)

When he gets to the boxes and is about to walk around them,  
a head peeks out from behind them, and he screams.  
There's a giggle and a chipper voice answers him.

"Oh, hey Tadashi!"

"What the _fuck_ , Ellie!" he manages to let out, breathless from his scream.

"Oh, that's what the light was?" another person that Karolina can't see yet says.  
But even if she can't see them, she knows _perfectly_ who it is and she can't decide if she wants to feel annoyed or incredibly embarrassed for being scared in the first place.  
And then you appear with numerous garlands wrapped around you like you're some kind of walking christmas tree and she decides that she wants to be annoyed. (Or even _pissed_. Being pissed sounds really nice right now.)  
Next to her, she hears Raquel snort.

"You having fun over there, Anna?"

"Oh, totally. I mean the part where the box of decorations fell on my head was less fun," Ellie snickers and you stick your tongue out at her for a second, "but hey, we got lots of cool garlands!" you do a little twirl after saying that, kicking numerous baubles on the floor while doing so, "Oh yeah, and baubles too. Less fun. Stepped on one too, so that sucks."

"You almost fell, too," Ellie adds with a smirk.

"Shush."

It's then that Karol clicks her tongue and steps forward, because there's no reason for her to be scared anymore and if she doesn't get some sort of explanation soon she might lose it for good.

"Alright, but most importantly, what the _fuck_ are you two doing here? And _why_ haven't we heard a goddamn _word_ from you?"

You're busy trying to wrap another garland around you, so it's Ellie who answers.

"Well, you know how earlier we said we were gonna look for another way in? We did find one! There was an open window at the back of the house. So we climbed through it! We were planning on coming back to the front to let you guys in, but before we got there we could hear that you all got in, so we went to explore instead." She pauses to gesture towards a tiny window that barely lets any light in. "When we were circling the house we noticed that window so we knew there was an attic, and Anna really wanted to check it out, so we looked for the entrance. And then we found it! But it was really high up, so I tried to climb on Anna's shoulders to reach it,"

"Didn't go well," you mutter. Ellie grimaces.

"Yeah, I fell, so we gave up on that idea."

Suddenly Axel lets out a little 'ooh' of realization.

"So _that_ was the loud noise we heard."

"Wait, are you two okay?"

Immediately Claire walks over to you guys, worry clear on her face, but Ellie waves her hand at her dismissively.

"I'm okay! I landed on Anna."

"And the worse I have is a bump on the back of my head. Probably."

But you shouldn't have said that because now Claire's examining your head, and there's nothing you can do to stop her.  
Meanwhile, Ellie continues her explanation.

"Anyway- since we couldn't reach the trap door like that, we went to look for something to climb on instead. Like, you know, a chair." She frowns. "But apparently chairs are a rarity here, because we didn't find one. All we got was that big table that was a pain to carry all the way to the trap door. But we didn't exactly have a choice." Then she spreads her arms, grinning. "And now here we are! The end."

"That doesn't explain why you didn't answer any of our texts, though."

There should have been _no reason_ for her to get scared now, so why is she jumping _again?_  
Why does Neha have to walk _so_ quietly that Karolina didn't hear her come up behind her?  
(When Karolina throws her this shocked look, she just raises an eyebrow at her.  
"I could hear you guys from all the way over there," she simply says.)  
Ellie takes out her phone and holds it up for all to see, pressing the power button multiple times.

"My battery's dead."

When everyone turns to you, you just shrug.  
(You wonder if you could balance that angel decoration on your head.)

"I didn't turn mine on."

Karolina is _this_ close to strangling you.  
You notice the murderous gaze on you and stare back at her, confused.  
She huffs and walks away.  
You're pretty sure she's mad, and you're not sure _why_ exactly, so you want to go ask her and maybe apologize if you need to, but before you can move, Tyler's joined you and is asking you if he can help decorate you, and you don't really want to say no because he looks pretty excited about it.  
You just hope that whatever's going on with Karolina isn't too serious.  
(It isn't all that serious.  
She's just frustrated with you because this whole time you were just having fun up there with Ellie even though she came here pretty much just for you.  
But it's not like you know so she can't exactly blame you, can't tell you anything, but she still can't help being annoyed so she's just going to... walk away for a bit.)  
Soon enough, a few of your friends are crowding you to help with the decorating, while others have dispersed to either explore the attic or rummage through the other boxes.  
No one notices Karolina leaving.

Now that she knows where you are and knows that there's nothing scary here, she doesn't feel the need to stick with the group anymore.  
And certainly doesn't feel the need to stay in a dirty, dusty attic full of cobwebs and god knows what else.  
Instead, since she _is_ kind of pissed now, she'd like to get some fresh air, so she goes to one of the nearby rooms and opens a window. Carefully. With a tissue to touch the handle because it looks _gross_.  
(She shouldn't have come here at all.  
She didn't want to come.  
She's not interested in abandoned places.  
She just got convinced that you'd be happy if she came.  
But you don't even seem to _care_.  
The audacity-  
But, no, no.  
It's not like you ever said anything.  
She can't be mad at you. It's not fair.  
She _could_ blame Ellie, but, in the end-  
It's her own fault, isn't it?  
For getting her hopes up.)  
Karolina lets out a _long_ sigh.  
The cold air isn't helping at all.  
All it's managed to do is lead her to the conclusion that she was being stupid.  
That's not any better.  
She'd rather be mad at you, honestly.  
(She tries to come up with something she could blame on you but she's too rational for that.  
Instead she just gets more and more frustrated with herself.)  
But still she stays at the window, because she doesn't feel like interacting with any of your friends right now. Nor you, for that matter.  
And, hey, the scenery isn't all that bad from here.  
It's pretty, even.  
But then she gets distracted by how stupid she's been and soon enough, she's lost in thoughts again, only occasionnally interrupted by someone walking right above her.

Karolina stays there for a while.  
A long while.  
There haven't been any noises above her for some time now, but she hasn't noticed yet.  
Her thoughts have drifted to her relationship with you and there's a lot there to unpack.  
It's only when she can't quite see the outline of some trees anymore because it's too dark that she realizes that, wow, a lot of time has passed.  
Also she can't hear anything anymore.  
She frowns. What the hell are you guys doing?  
She leaves the room with the intention of going back up to the attic to check, but she sees that the ladder's been folded and the trap door, closed. (The table's still there though.)  
She calls out Neha's name, just in case.  
Gets no answer.  
She closes her eyes for a second and takes a deep breath.  
So.  
You all left.  
Without telling her.  
Alright then.  
(It's fine, it's _fine_ , she doesn't care.  
Why would she?)  
Since it's late, she's guessing you're all outside and getting ready to leave.  
So she just has to get outside too.  
(She's a big girl. She can take care of herself.  
It doesn't matter if you all just left her like that.  
It's _fine_.)

Maybe that was easier said than done.  
Where the hell are the stairs?  
She hadn't realized it earlier because she was just following the others, but there actually are a lot of turns here.  
She has no clue which path they took to get from the stairs to the attic.  
(Why did this place have to be so ridiculously _big?_ )  
She's going to be there for a while.  
(And she really doesn't want to be, she keeps hearing weird noises and she can't shake the feeling there's someone walking behind her even though every time she turns around there's no one.)  
Maybe she should just text someone to come get her-  
No.  
No, you all-  
You all just left her.  
She's not about to ask for your help.  
She doesn't need it.  
She'll show you all.  
(Meanwhile, she doesn't hear her phone vibrating in her bag.  
Doesn't see the twenty new messages and three missed calls.  
A shame.)

It's taking too long.  
Where the _hell_ is she now?  
She doesn't remember this painting.  
She goes to a room to check outside and-  
How is she on the opposite side of the house now?  
( _Is it_ the opposite side of the house? She can't even see all that well outside. Maybe she's completely wrong.  
She doesn't really care at this point.)  
How has she not found the fucking stairs already!  
No, no.  
She takes a deep breath.  
She's _not_ going to break down now.  
(But she's so tired and she just wants to go home already.)  
She's just... going to sit down for a bit. Take a break.  
She deserves it.

It's while she's sitting quietly in the dark room that she hears them. Barely.  
Voices.  
In her current state, they kind of freak her out, but as they get clearer-  
There are two of them.  
One much louder than the other.  
She knows them.

"Karol? Where are you?"

"Kaaaarooooliiiinaaaaaa!"

"Should I try calling her again?"

"I dunno, she would have called back already if she'd noticed our calls in the first place, right?"

"But still..."

That's...  
That's Neha and you.  
You're looking for her.  
So she gets up and leaves the room, just in time to catch a beam of light disappearing behind a corner.  
She chases after it.  
(For the love of god, don't leave her alone again.)

"You think she's still in the attic or something?"

"I'd imagine not. I mean, she didn't want to go there in the first place, so..."

"Yeaaah, makes sense. Maybe she just went home after all..."

"No I did _not!"_

You slightly jump while Neha lets out a gasp and you both turn around to find Karolina behind you.  
(She sounded and _looks_ angry, but she also seems really tense and tired, so you're not going to take it personally.)

"Karol! You're okay!"

Neha rushes to her friend's side, relief all over her face.  
You smile.  
(You're glad you've finally found Karol.)

"Why wouldn't I be?"

You cross your arms, tilting your head.

"I mean, we've kinda been spamming your phone for a while now and you've never answered."

She blinks before taking her phone out and checking it.  
Sure enough, she has forty new messages and ten missed calls.  
That's...  
A lot.  
She can't believe she didn't hear her phone vibrating even _once_.  
(Also if she had actually let herself ask for help she would have seen all the notifications and she wouldn't have had to stay here for so long.  
Another thing to add to her "Stupid things I've done today" list.  
She represses a frustrated sigh.)  
Seeing that she doesn't seem to have anything to say, you keep going.

"So what have you been up to? Surprised you've stayed there on your own for so long. Found something interesting?"

Oh, right.  
She remembers why she was angry in the first place.

"Not really, no. I was just taking a break and before I knew it, you'd all left. You know," she narrows her eyes at you, like not at you and Neha but specifically at you, " _without telling me._ "

Now you're starting to get why she's angry.  
(You're still not sure _why_ it's all directed at you though, but one thing at a time.)

"Oh. Yeah, we didn't know where you were, so we kind of just assumed you were out already. But then you weren't, so we texted you, but you didn't answer, so we called you, but you _still_ didn't answer, so we figured you were still somewhere inside. So I volunteered to go get you, and Neha joined me because it was about her best friend and she was worried, you know?" You smirk at Neha. " _Really_ worried."

Next to Karolina, Neha's face gets a shade darker, an embarrassed smile on her face.

"I mean, it's a big place, and it was getting dark, and... I was just worried something could have happened to Karol."

After a few seconds, she looks you in the eyes, an eyebrow raised.

"Besides, you said that you 'volunteered to go get her', but it's not what really happened, is it? You all but rushed back inside when you realized Karol wasn't waiting outside."

"Hey, if you're calling me out, then I have to point out that you didn't just 'join me', you ran after me like two seconds later asking me if something could have happened to her."

Neha looks away at that, her cheeks considerably darker.  
Sweet sweet victory.  
(Meanwhile, Karolina's still processing the exchange.  
It's not fair that you guys get to be adorable like that.  
She was supposed to be angry, not feel all warm inside because you two were actually really worried about her.)  
Then you hear a phone ring and see Neha take hers out.  
Her eyes widen.

"Oh, we _really_ should go now. We're not going to get back in time for curfew otherwise."

Oh, you completely forgot about that.  
That'd be bad.

"Alright, let's go then."

Neha and you lead the way, Karolina close behind.  
She still hasn't said a word, and you think that's a bit odd.  
Maybe she's more tired than you thought.  
You feel a bit bad.  
(She _is_ tired, but she's mostly thinking.)

"By the way, Karolina?"

She hums absentmindedly, only half listening.

"I meant to say this earlier, but... Thanks for coming here today."

She turns her head toward you, now actually listening.

"Like... I get that this isn't really... the kind of stuff you like to do. But you came anyway, and I appreciate that a lot, even if we didn't get to talk much today. I mean- I appreciate the sentiment. Yeah."

You have this tiny awkward smile on your face, it's a bit embarrassing to say stuff like that but you get the feeling Karol didn't want to be here so you wanted to let her know that her efforts have been noticed and are appreciated.  
When she doesn't answer for a while, you glance at her to gauge her reaction and you could _swear_ she's blushing.  
But then again it's really dark and you're not shining your light at her so maybe you're imagining things.  
(You're not.)  
It's when you get to the stairs that she stops to answer.

"You're... You're welcome. It was nothing. Beside, it wasn't _that_ bad."

You beam at that, taking her by surprise.

"Really?"

She gets the feeling that you misinterpreted, because she _definitely_ didn't have fun like you did, but you look so happy, she can't just tell you that.

"Yeah. But I'm not doing this again."

You snicker.

"Okay, that's fair."

You don't talk much after that, and soon enough you've regrouped with the others.  
They ask Karolina a few questions, nothing too interesting.  
(When Tegan asks her if she got lost, she pretends she didn't hear him.)  
And a few minutes later, you're in different taxis, going back to school.

Neha and you are chatting quietly, while Karolina's silently looking out the window.  
All three of you are sitting in the back of a taxi and she tries really hard to keep her eyes open and listen to your conversation at first, but she's really tired and you're speaking so softly, it's making her drowsy.  
So she closes her eyes, deciding that there's no harm in resting a bit.  
And she really didn't mean to doze off, but here we are.  
(It's only when her head drops onto your shoulder that you realize she's asleep.  
You turn to look at her, her hair tickling your nose.  
She's so close and looks so peaceful, it makes your heart skip a bit.  
When you turn back to Neha you find her staring at Karol too, smiling, then she looks up at you and nods.)  
The rest of the ride is quiet, neither of you wanting to wake Karolina up.  
At some point, you feel Neha shifting and before you know it, she's pressed against you and resting her head on your other shoulder, and you think you might just die then.  
(There's something a lot more intimate about the thing because you're fairly sure _she_ isn't sleeping.)

When you arrive at the school (ten minutes before curfew, you guys are really cutting it close), you and Neha get out of the car first to help a half asleep Karolina get back to her room.  
(You could just wake her up, but you don't have the heart to do that.)  
You whisper a 'good night' to Neha before she closes their door, then you go back to your own room.  
Now to gather the strength to drag yourself to the shower...  
...  
Man, your bed's being really convincing right now.  
This is going to be hard.

**Author's Note:**

> don't ask me what this abandoned mansion is doing there i will not provide any kind of explanation because i do not know either
> 
> i don't know if you can tell but i originally didn't mean to write karol/scholar/neha  
> i started this with just karol/scholar in mind but as i kept writing i was like man... neha's right there... and like karol/scholar/neha lives in my mind rent free so it kind of just happened.
> 
> also count_duckoo if ur out there. ily


End file.
